Pennsylvania College of Technology is partnering with Cambridge Vacuum Engineering Inc. to bring electron beam welding to the curriculum of its welding and metal fabrication program.

A 6okV electron beam welder from CVE, a Cambridge, England-based, company with a U.S. sales and support office, will be used by the college in its soon-to-be expanded welding instructional facility in the Lycoming Engines Metal Trade Center. This is the first electron beam welder placed by the company in any college or university within the United States, and one of only a few in higher-education institutions worldwide.

The welder will be installed in the fall of 2019, immediately enabling the college to enhance the majors offered within the welding and metal fabrication program, providing exceptional opportunities for Penn College students.

The need for electron beam welder technicians is increasing in industry; the partnership with CVE will help Penn College satisfy that demand. Electron beam welding has become a vital technology in the aerospace, automotive, energy, medical, semiconductor and military industries.

Pennsylvania College of Technology men’s and women’s basketball teams dropped their midweek games while weekend action for those two squads and the wrestling team was postponed due to an impending snowstorm.

M. Abraham Harpster, the newest member of the Pennsylvania College of Technology Board of Directors, got further acquainted during an enlightening institutional visit Thursday. After lunch at Le Jeune Chef and a stroll through the restaurant’s kitchens, Harpster embarked on a wide-ranging tour that included plastics, welding and collision repair/restoration labs. The group – which included state Sen. Gene Yaw, board chairman; President Davie Jane Gilmour; Paul L. Starkey, vice president for academic affairs/provost; Suzanne T. Stopper, senior vice president for finance/chief financial officer; and Patrick Marty, chief of staff/assistant to the president for college relations – also talked with manufacturing students on the Baja SAE team and stopped by Dauphin Hall.

The Blaise Alexander Family Dealerships, with 18 locations that employ a number of Penn College alumni, was honored Wednesday for its inspiring generosity and ongoing dedication to Wildcat Athletics. Through scholarship support, mentorship and other substantial contributions – including new scoreboards in Bardo Gymnasium – the Alexander family’s financial commitment was noted by the Wildcat Club as “creating lasting impact for our student-athletes and the athletic facilities they call home.” Among those on hand for Corporate Partner Day during a basketball doubleheader against the College of Saint Elizabeth was Aubrey Alexander, a 2009 business administration graduate and member of the Penn College Foundation Board of Directors.

Furthering a partnership that has thrived for nearly a quarter century, the Caterpillar Foundation and a consortium of regional dealers recently delivered $82,000 in support of students and curriculum at Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Schneebeli Earth Science Center.

“We are pleased that Caterpillar Inc. and its dealers have continued to support our students and the college,” said Brett A. Reasner, dean of transportation and natural resources technologies at Penn College. “Their contributions support student scholarships and provide a positive impact on our ability to keep current technology in the classrooms and labs.”

On the surface, the three men have little in common. One looks like a vibrant, distinguished grandfather with his neatly trimmed white goatee and confident gait. The second could pass for a lead singer in a rock band with his lip and nose rings, faded T-shirt and long hair. The third appears to be a budding executive with his coiffed hair and button-down shirt complemented by a perfect smile.

They are separated by appearance, age, background and job title. But the three share educational roots at Pennsylvania College of Technology and mission at Packaging Progressions Inc. in Souderton.

The Financial Aid Office at Pennsylvania College of Technology will help current and future college students and their families complete the 2019-20 Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The FAFSA online application is required by colleges and universities to determine student eligibility for federal and state grants, federal loans and some scholarships.

Penn College’s free FAFSA completion session is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 24, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. The session will be in Room 1049 of the Student & Administrative Services Center on the college’s main campus. Students enrolled or planning to enroll at any college or university are invited. Students who are 23 or younger should be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Colleen S. Masteller, a 2016 graduate of Penn College’s culinary arts and systems major, made PA Eats’ list of “20 Food-Loving Pennsylvanians to Follow on Instagram.” Masteller – who also maintains the In Whites blog – is a kitchen manager at Sawhorse Café in Williamsport; hosts a series of pop-up, limited-seating dinners; and populates her Instagram account with “poetic” photos of finished dishes, ingredients and life in the kitchen, according to PA Eats. PA Eats is an online publication dedicated to Pennsylvania food and drink news.

Penn College students and employees are encouraged to participate in “Dream Week” activities centered around the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, beginning with a Peace Walk through downtown Williamsport on Saturday, Jan. 19.

The walk will form at First United Methodist Church, 604 Market St., at 10 a.m.; transportation will be provided from the Bush Campus Center Loop at 9:30. Refreshments and a musical celebration, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” will follow in the church.

Last week, Pennsylvania College of Technology men’s and women’s basketball teams resumed North Eastern Athletic Conference play, which will dominate the remainder of their schedules, and the men’s squad earned its first conference win of the season.

A parent’s proud endorsement of a Penn College education, which propelled his son into an imminent career as a landscape designer, kicks off a Pennsylvania Farm Show video from state Sen. Gene Yaw. The legislator – who chairs the college’s board of directors – sat down with state Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding, father of a 2016 landscape/horticulture technology alumnus. Elliot C. Redding carried his two-year degree to Penn State, where he will graduate with a bachelor’s degree later this year. Watch PCToday for photos from the 103rd annual expo, at which the college was a weeklong presence.

An effort by two members of Penn College’s information technology faculty to extend cybersecurity education to high school students – and younger – is featured in Friday’s editions of The Washington Post. Jacob R. Miller and Sandra Gorka, associate professors of computer science, will attend the ShmooCon hacker convention in the nation’s capital and offer a Jan. 18 presentation about a dual-enrollment program to interest pre-college students in cybersecurity careers. “If you go into a first- or second-grade class and ask, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ it’s doubtful anyone would say information security analyst,” Miller told The Post’s Joseph Marks. “But we want to raise the profile so when they’re thinking of doctors, nurses and firefighters, they’ll also think of IT pros and security in IT. That’s the holy grail of where we want to see this project go.” The college offers four IT baccalaureate degrees: software development and information management, information assurance and cyber security, information technology: network specialist concentration, and game and simulation programming. Students may also seek an associate degree in information technology: technical support technology emphasis.

Michael J. Reed has been named vice president for academic operations and associate provost at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Reed joined Penn College in 2014 as assistant dean of the School of Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications. He became interim dean in 2015 and has been dean of the school since January 2016. Previously, he was head principal at Williamsport Area High School and director of SciTech High School, a STEM magnet school partnering with Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

In his new role, Reed’s responsibilities include coordinating and aligning initiatives and support services within Academic Affairs, including providing leadership to the outcomes assessment process and oversight of the Academic Affairs and academic school budgets. He will also provide leadership, fiscal planning and staff evaluation for functions related to the Madigan Library and the Office of Assessment, Research & Planning. Reed will serve as a member of President’s Council and as co-chair of Deans’ Council at the college.